My Take on the New MacBook Family

The Good

• Better Graphics: Anybody who works with photos, graphics or videos, or plays games has to be ecstatic about this. I've been reading that the new NVIDIA GeForce 9400M will deliver, at maximum, a 6 times performance boost over the old MacBooks. The new MacBook Pros also feature the integrated 9400M as well as a discrete NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT graphics chip. The 9600M GT does graphics 2.3 times as fast as the 9400M. This translates into a great leap forward in graphic processing power and makes for a smooth upgrade to Snow Leopard.
  
• Air Power: With the new NVIDIA graphics the MacBook Air now jas enough power to function as a main computer, rather that a second notebook for travel.
• Design Refresh: Uniform designs for MacBook, MacBook Pro and iMacs consolidates styling across the notebook line and ends the white/black MacBook thing. No more whining that real men don't carry white notebooks, or having to pay premium for a black MacBook.
  

Neutral

• 24" LCD Monitor: Pricy. As of now only works with the new MacBooks, MacBook Pros and MacBook Air. The following comes from an AppleInsider Article at AppleInsider.com.
  
  The new LED Cinema Display will be available in November through the Apple Store, Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $899. It will require a MacBook, MacBook Air or MacBook Pro with the new Mini DisplayPort.

Disapointing

• Low-End Pricing: Sure the old MacBook, with a SuperDrive, now goes for $999, but Apple seems to be ceding the sub-$1000 notebook market to PC makers. Maybe they're not interessted. I'd like to see a stylish, entry-level notebook for $799.
  
• No netbook: If Apple came out with Netbook at around $500, people would line up like it was gas at a dollar a gallon. Is Apple simply not interested in this market, or merely waiting for a better entry point?
• Mac mini: It ain't a notebook, but I'm still waiting for a Mini upgrade. All Apple has to do is put the NVIDIA 9400M inside.
  
  

New MacBooks at Last

Enough about the iPhone. It's nice to know that Apple hasn't forgotten about its computer business. Apple has finally confirmed the October 14th notebook event. While speculation has centered around new aluminum cases for both the Macbook and Macbook Pro, it's more interesting to consider what might be inside. Which CPUs will Apple use and how much will they boost video performance? There have also been rumors of an $800 notebook from Apple. Will this be powered by a dual-core Atom processor? And what about the Mac mini--is it too much to hope for an upgrade?

Leopard Mac Mini Upgrade

The Bottom Line: I had a smooth upgrade experience, much better than Windows, with no software reinstalls, or rummaging around for drivers or passwords. Software Update briefly torpedoed my Internet connection, but another upgrade install of Leopard solved the problem.

My copy of Leopard finally arrived Saturday morning. I got home from work around 3 and had a couple of hours to install 10.5 before meeting friends for dinner. I've got a 1.42 GHz G4 Mini with 1 GB of RAM. Things went smoothly after I figured out where my wife had put my copy of Leopard. The installer reported that my upgrade install would take 3 hours and 47 minutes. 5 minutes later the remaining time was listed as 2 hours and 11 minutes. In actuality the install took about an hour and 45 minutes, considerably slower than the 30 minute times people with Intel Macs were reporting. Leopard finally booted up, along with all my settings, files, and previously installed software. My wife was yelling that we had to leave. I verified that the wireless Internet connection worked and shut down the machine.

I didn't get back to Leopard until Sunday afternoon. The Software Update immediately came up and offered me a Login and Keychain update and an Apple Remote Desktop 3.2 Client update. Did I need the latter? I glanced at "recommended for all users" in the explanation field and pushed the install button.

The Mini rebooted and I noticed the wireless Internet connection was gone. I checked System Preferences and found that the AirPort card was listed as disconnected. I clicked the Turn AirPort On button and Leopard started scanning for networks. 20 minutes later Leopard was still scanning and the AirPort card still showed as disconnected.

So I did another upgrade install of Leopard. This took another hour and 45 minutes, but restored my Internet connection and seemed to put everything right. Had Leopard overwritten the updates that had knocked the Internet? I ran the Software Update and got a message that all my software was up to date.

I finally get a Mac

In the waning days of December I finally got around to replacing the light above our dining room table. It only took me a couple of months to get around to it. This required turning off the electricity and rewiring the fixture. I was careful to make sure that all computers were turned off and unplugged before I started flicking breaker switches to determine what breaker would cut off the electricity to the kitchen-dining area.

Putting up the new light fixture was easier than expected, but when I ran upstairs to plug in my wife's Mac Mini, and disaster hit. The Mini made a cheap, scratching sound, beeped 3 times, and played dead. I rebooted and got the same response--no reaction from the monitor and no soft whir from a spinning hard drive. I turned on the Windows computer and learned that the scratching sound was described as the sound of breaking glass, and that 3 beeps signified some sort of memory problem.

I didn't see how my electrical project could have deep-sized the Mini. My wife came home and told me that the Mini had failed to boot up when she had turned it on that morning. I put the computer back in its box and we headed on down to a computer store that specializes in Apple products. The service guy tried to boot up the Mini using various keyboard combinations and got the same results I had. He shook his head and told us he'd need time to diagnose the problem, and that if he couldn't figure out what was wrong, he'd send it to the Apple store in Osaka. It would all take time and possibly money. If it had to go to the Apple store, repairs would be expensive, and it might not cost that much more to buy a new, improved Mac Mini. My wife had wandered off and was looking at Macbooks. She really wanted a laptop, she told me. It would come in handy when we traveled and she could use it in different rooms in the house. She needed a computer.

It was Christmas. The Leopard release was not going to be announced at MacWorld. We drove down to Kojima Denki and priced the mid-range Macbook. The price they quoted was the same as I'd get at the online Apple store using my educational discount. And they threw in a 5-year guarantee. We took the Macbook home that night.

After waiting a couple of weeks, we called back to inquire about the Mac Mini. The service guy was out. He finally called the next day and said the Mini was fine. Dust had clogged up the interior and cooling ducts. Now the computer booted up just fine and we could pick it up any time for a repair charge of 500o yen. My wife told me I could have the Mac Mini. I asked the service guy to upgrade the memory to 1GB and looked forward to a Mac intensive 2007.

Update: My wife likes the 19 inch Samsung monitor that goes with the Mini, meaning I get my share of quality time with the Macbook. Tiger and the Intel Core 2 Duo do make a difference.

Why I'm Straddling

Yes, I'm still in the process of switching from Windows to the Mac. In theory, it's a done deal; in reality, my time with OS X is limited. My wife uses the trusty Mac mini, meaning I spend most of my computer time on an aging HP notebook. This is entirely my fault. I thought she might prefer the Mac to our old Windows desktop and I was right. I'm biding my time though, and when the time is right, I'll buy my very own Apple computer. Until that time comes, I'll post on my experiences straddling the Mac-Windows divide.